1. Technical field
The embodiments herein generally relates to a field of nanotechnology. The embodiments herein particularly relates to a method of producing silver nanoparticles. The embodiments herein more particularly relates to a method of producing high purity silver nanoparticles using electromagnetic levitation melting process.
2. Description of the Related Art
A Nanoscience has been mostly related to a synthesis and a stabilization of metallic nanoparticles, mainly due to their exclusive properties associated with a large surface area to volume ratio by changing from macro to nanoscale.
The size, shape and size distribution of the nanoparticles play a major role in controlling the physical, chemical and electrical properties of the nanoparticle materials.
The research on Silver nanoparticles is focused mainly because of the remarkable use of silver nanoparticles in catalytic, optical, biotechnology and electronic applications.
The recent studies have demonstrated that silver nanoparticles are highly effective antimicrobial agents against bacteria and viruses. Silver nanoparticles are able to interact with HIV-I virus in order to inhibit the virus from binding to the host cells.
Since the properties of silver nanoparticles strongly depend on their size and shapes, the synthesis of silver nanoparticles with a controlled size and morphology has been one of the desired aims in nanotechnology field.
Many different processes for the production of silver nanoparticles have been investigated and each process has its own characteristics advantages and disadvantages. The majority of them are based on the chemical reduction which requires too much processes and too much time. A typical procedure involves growing the nanoparticles in a liquid medium containing various reactants, by particular reducing agents. A stabilizing agent is also added to prevent an agglomeration of the nanoparticles. The chemical methods are of low-cost. However, the usage of toxic solvents, the generation of hazardous by-products and also the contamination of the synthesized particles from the precursor chemicals are the main problems of chemical reduction methods.
Hence there is a growing need for an environmentally friendly preparation process of nanoparticles that do not include toxic solvents and wastes and also contamination of synthesized particles in their process synthesis protocol.
Several U.S. patents including U.S. Pat. No. 5,585,020 issued to Becker et al, U.S. Pat. No. 7,384,448 issued to Johnson, U.S. Pat. No. 7,575,711 issued to Johnson, discloses various ways of producing silver nano particles, but they fail to suggest a process by which stable, pure, and narrow size distribution silver nanoparticles may be produced at increased rates of production.
Hence there is a need for a manufacture of silver nanoparticles with stable, pure and narrow size distribution to increase the rate of production of silver nanoparticles.
The embodiments herein minimize and eliminate some of the above mentioned failures by utilizing a novel method and the structural features are described here.
The above mentioned shortcomings, disadvantages and problems are addressed herein and which will be understood by reading and studying the following specification.